Corresponding author: Mst. Salma Khatun
Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital, Bogura, Bangladesh. E-mail:
Copyright © 2021 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0.
Knowledge of pregnant women on danger signs related to pregnancy and child birth
Mst. Salma Khatun
1, *
, Laskhy Rani Roy
2
, Mst. Raziatul Humayra
3
, Ashees Kumar Saha
4
and Rowshan Ara
5
1
Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital, Bogura, Bangladesh.
2
M. Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital, Dinajpur, Bangladesh.
3
Upazilla Health Complex, Chilmari, Kurigram, Bangladesh.
4
Upazilla Health Complex, Bagha, Rajshahi, Bangladesh.
5
Department of Population Dynamics, NIPSOM, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
International Journal of Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences Archive, 2021, 01(02), 116–122
Publication history: Received on 16 March 2021; revised on 18 April 2021; accepted on 20 April 2021
Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.30574/ijbpsa.2021.1.2.0033
Abstract
Adequate knowledge regarding danger signs during pregnancy, child birth and postpartum period plays a vital role in
safeguarding mothers as well as child health. This cross sectional study was conducted by purposively selected 262
pregnant women in two hospitals in Bogura district from 1
st
January to 31
st
December, 2018 with the aim to assess the
knowledge of pregnant women on danger signs related to pregnancy and child birth. Data were collected with a semi-
structured questionnaire through face-to-face interview. The mean age of the respondent’s was SD = 23.37 ± 4.47 years.
Most of the respondents 61.4%, (n=161) knew about danger signs during pregnancy from health workers and 65.6 %
(n=172) had poor knowledge regarding danger signs during pregnancy whereas 34.4% (n=90) respondents had good
knowledge. Most of the respondents 61.5%, (n=161) understood danger signs during child birth and 68.7 % (n=180)
had poor knowledge regarding danger signs during child birth. Among the respondents 40.5% (n=106) understood
dang.er signs after child birth and only 12.2% (n=32) respondents had good knowledge regarding danger signs after
child birth. Significant association was found between age of the respondents and level of knowledge regarding danger
signs during pregnancy (p=0.0001). Health education on danger signs related to pregnancy and child birth should be
imparted to all pregnant women to increase their knowledge regarding this issue.
Keywords: Knowledge of women about obstetric danger signs; Knowledgeable on key danger signs of pregnancy;
Knowledgeable on key danger signs of labor/childbirth; Knowledgeable on key danger signs of post-partum; Health
seeking action.
1. Introduction
Pregnancy is a normal process that results in a series of both physiological and psychological changes in expectant
mothers. However, normal pregnancy may be accompanied by some problems and complications which are potentially
life threatening to the mother and / or the fetus [1]
While most pregnancies and births are uneventful, all pregnancies are at risk. Around 15% of all pregnant women will
develop a potentially life-threatening complication that calls for skilled care, and some will require a major obstetrical
intervention to survive [2]. Women worldwide get pregnant and about 10% of them will potentially develop
complications that will demand experienced/skilled obstetric care to avert death or life threatening problems. It has
also been attested that every day about 14,000 women lose their lives as a result of complications from pregnancy and
childbirth [3].